Teal'c talks lizards even more...Petty Officer O'Neill sees the Wyryn, they meet Hethrir and Space Viking and American culture probe each other.
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The Wyryn -Hurot: Asgard Protect Planet's zone.
The first thing that Sandra O’Neill noticed was that the walls looked burned, blasted and scarred. That the houses that filled either side of the streets leading to the Wyryn were all burnt out, pulled down and the dead were still being recovered by the smell of it. The second thing she noticed was that the people everywhere looked absolutely demoralized and the third thing? That while everyone here was human or mostly human, she could spot a few blue skinned aliens and a redskinned Kelownan or two. -Fascinating, people come even to this primitive worlds looking to profit from their skills.-
It explained why her father kept pointing out storm drains, public bathhouses and downed powerlines. Why they looked to be in the high Middle Ages and yet had working electric lighting and to a degree even cooling and heating. Not that they needed those, Hurot was a paradise, she doubted it was above seventy-two degrees and the air was cool and clean after a horrific massacre. People received them as conquering heroes and she felt a pang of guilt about the fact that they were likely going to demand payment for the monster slaying in a form of a somewhat uneven treaty. Doctor Jackson had explained that in their culture it was expected, and some sources indicated that not extorting the people you saved was seen as disrespectful.
That was whack but she didn’t let it dampen her excitement, her first mission off world! Her first actual adventure and it was with her father, her mentor and her sister’s role model and someone she considered a close friend. And there was Doctor Jackson, who wasn’t bad company and Teal’c whose advice had become something she’d come to cherish. “I know you didn’t want me on this mission..Da-Sir..but.”
O’Neill waved his daughter off. “Honestly, up until a minute ago, I wasn’t too worried about you. You’re well trained and you helped repel Tealc’s best guys remember? I thought mopping up a bunch of criminals wasn’t going to be too risky. Still had to pretend to be mad, you know fathers’ rights and all.”
She nodded; it had been a sore spot between them the involvement of his children in the Stargate project up until very recently. Her father wanted them lightyears away from any of the dangers he’d lived through in his life and she and Sasha didn’t really realize West was tapping them for the project to use as leverage until after his death. “Well, I’m glad..wait why until a minute ago?”
“Look around you. This is a big city, well town by the standards of their tech level.” Sometimes her dad was shockingly smart, other times..he was well..himself. And they wrecked this place pretty damn good…That’s my concern here.” O’Neill responded. “I doubt they sent their full force here either, but still they did all this damage. They’ve gotta be Jaffa strong and Jaffa tough or near enough as they’re the only guys I know tough enough to run wild like that….Well except for some United States Marines on leave with too much booze in ‘em and nothing to amuse themselves with.”
Suppressing an urge to roll her eyes at the Marine brag she nodded. “Teal’c do you know any species that matches…The Colonel’s profile.”
“I can think of several” Teal’c said grimly. “Though most of them are not known for the kind of violent behavior I am seeing here.”
“Anyone in particular?” Sandra asked.
“Sleestak, Slytharians and The Scarrans.” He recalled, that the Cylons, the robotic creatures created by the Kobolons were named after a semi mythical reptilian species native to Caprica that their ancestors allegedly destroyed when they tamed the planet after the “Gods” exiled them from Kobol. In Teal’cs mind they were probably a colony of Unas who had been left on that world and forgotten by Izanagi in the distant past.
“Scarrans? Aren’t those the guys you and your wife blew up?”
“Indeed.”
“You missed some.”
“That remains to be seen, O’Neill”
“oookkayyy.”
“Gentlemen.” Hammond’s voice carried in a way Sandra didn’t think it would due to the oppressive silence that hung over this mangled city. People looked up, gazing at the strange men and women with a strange language and she smiled. “We’re the aliens here..” she whispered causing Doctor Jackson to smile at the allusion. “It’s true and we speak a language none of them have ever even heard of, but some might recognize as sharing some root elements with their own.” He needed to write a book about that, one day when all this was declassified.
How to learn alien languages by inference and how to apply the psychological and cultural eccentricities of Earth to neighboring worlds without causing an interstellar incident or something. “Grandpa Nick was right in so many ways, wrong in so many others. He’d be so thrilled.” He gave a reluctant shake of his head, that was the only thing he really regretted about being part of this wonderful and insane program. Even losing Shau’re was worth having met her and loved her in the first place, but to not be able to share all of this with the kind man who was more a father to him than a grandpa.
“My grandfather would have gotten a kick out of this too.” Carter muttered, falling in line between Jackson and the younger O’Neill twin, looping her arms through theirs. “His whole thing was that space was the future, even before he got brought into project Constellation, he was adamant that there was life out there.” She smiled sadly, one of the reasons the more benevolent Goa’uld intrigued her was their ability to seemingly cure any disease and repair any genetic defects or damage resulting from said diseases and depending on the species so much more. She lost her parents to terrorism, her grandfather to disease and she nearly lost her surrogate family to picking a fight she wasn’t ready for.
The Wyryn was an impressive castle and Daniel inquired as to what it meant as it didn’t seem to match any Nordic or Celtic or Aejirian words. Teal’c explained that it was Sebacean for “Vault” or “Strongbox.”. Of course, a High King whose victories in the field of battle were likely heavily contingent on the wealth that flowed through the Stargate would name his Castle “Castle Bank”. It was almost cliché but the building itself was a marvel of engineering for any era and the odd mix of gilded age technology (The lamps, the fans, other subtle signs of working electricity and the engineering knowhow.) and high medieval period architecture and textiles with dark age Viking aesthetics. The whole galaxy was weird, the Imperium’s planets went from barely out of the bronze age (Abydos.) to densely populated worlds with technology she couldn’t even conceptualize and all of them seemed to have an aesthetic clash of eras.
And then there was Hethrir himself who to Samantha Carter looked like a living relic almost as much as Apophis had. He sat on a throne elevated above the rest of some ginormous multi-storied feasting hall on a throne made of what she suspected was some sort of ivory. He was gray haired, wrinkled, haggard but he must have been as tall as Teal’c because even back bent he looked like her head would maybe reach his chest. His bald head was a patchwork of scars that spoke of a youth spent in constant war. His hands were gnarled and looked more like bear paws and though she was told he was closer to a hundred years, he looked to be in his late sixties at most. His voice was loud, booming and was very much the voice of a man who was used to frivolity, laughter and command. -He’s never been challenged, existentially. All the wars to conquer this planet were wars he had been certain he could win no matter how damaging they were- Her eyes narrowed.
Carter didn’t like that.
P.O O’Neill walked up and alongside Daniel introduced the group. Amusingly, some of the warrior’s there seemed afraid of the Colonel more than Teal’c and more than the Admiral (Who they should have feared more than anyone even the monsters.). Others looked up with eyes glinting with wounded pride at her team. This wasn’t going to be easy, whoever the enemy was outside there would be challenges within that would cause near as many problems if the Stargate teams weren’t careful. Hethrir seemed to sense this and smiled a kind of smile she didn’t quite like as he leaned forward and offered them welcome into his hall and told them that rumors of their victories and standoffs had reached even here. “I hear you killed Sek’het…I saw him fight once when I was a boy, he killed an entire room full of Lucian pirates with nothing but a knife.”
When the younger O’Neill translated it, Jack laughed. “It was me and Daniel here.” He said slapping Jackson’s shoulder. “And an Abydonian princess. But I did crush his chest and send his head through those ring things yeah.”
Hethrir seemed to consider the translated words, replying in Imperial Standard. “
And how? Boy, do you believe a Tau’Ri war chief, a Skald and a little girl were able to overcome the champion of Amun Ra?”
O’Neill grinned a feral grin. “Because Snake boy wasn’t trying to beat me, he was trying to humiliate me to prove a point of honor to his wounded pride. I’d gotten the better of him twice before and he didn’t like that very much.”
When this was translated the spectators who filled his hall murmured amongst themselves. And Hethrir’s smile only broadened, Carter noted he had all his teeth. Something she didn’t quite expect for a medieval near centenarian. “
And you, do not engage in battle to prove matters of honor hmm?”
“No sir, when a United States Space Marine engages in battle, he means to kill his enemies until there are none left, or his soul departs his body. Whichever comes first, I leave the honor of matter to be decided by the folks that I serve.”
The room was silent, minus a few laughs until Hethrir erupted in laughter and nodded his head. “
Ah, you aren’t a warrior.”
“
No, King I’m a soldier.” O’Neill answered in space Egyptian, hey he
had been learning if slowly. Hethrir turned to Hammond and Teal’c and asked them if they shared O’Neill’s view on the matters of honor and their place in war. Questions Carter believed could be answered with a “the object of war is to achieve political ends that couldn’t be achieved via negotiation. There’s no honor in that…just give me fissile material, some Naquadah and a machine shop and a rad suit and I’ll end your damn war by lunch.” Though she was reasonably certain her answer to the obvious character test (Apparently the guy besieged by space monsters wanted to see if the values of his deliverers matched up with this own…) would have counted as an instafail.
Teal’c answered that the legions of the Serpent Guard were always about creating warriors and soldiers and that both had their place in war. An answer that satisfied many, but it was Hammond’s answer when translated that seemed to send the crowd into cheers. “I come from a different military order than Colonel O’Neill sir, one that is more ruthless than the marines. We decapitate in the dead of night so that when men of honor fight on the field they can go home to see their wives and children. Honor, is in the man as much as it is in the deed and neither of our orders leaves a fallen man behind or lets an insult to the weak go unchallenged and if you want your monster problem taken care of, we’re the guys you want, because we’re bigger, meaner monsters. Besides, I don’t think it’s honorable to try and humiliate an enemy solely to salve your wounded ego Sir. Where I come from that is just thuggery.”
“
Well-said Hammond of Texas, spoken as a warrior Skald even. Though, you dissimilate a bit, you and yours would not come here without purpose.”
The Admiral didn’t rise to the insult instead he admitted it. “No, even now as we stand here an enemy fleet is being built with the purpose of coming to our world to conquer it and we need Trinium and access to…some knowledge regarding the Aesir.” Hammond said, unwilling to inquire about the weapons depot in public.
The King answered that if all they wanted was some Trinium his subjects were being offered a bargain for they had more Trinium than most worlds and they would gladly part with some. “Though, I warn you, more arrive every day and we aren’t certain how.”
…Lovely.
………
Instead of feasting, the King had ordered a simple mean be brought out and the hall cleared of all but his warriors, the Stargate teams and witnesses and survivors of the battles and raids. That was a smart decision, what they needed right now was information and details sufficient to form a plan of action and if Major Ramirez was being honest, he really didn’t like the idea of getting wasted on the potential eve of battle. No, he thought from his chair, that was a young man’s game and if he was going to throwdown with marauding space aliens, he wanted to be sober and clear eyed and rested.
His men shared his sentiments, as most had dozed off after dinner, getting sleep when they could like proper hunters and waking only when he tapped the table to wake them as the witnesses came in. Several were members of what passed for the Wyryn’s police force while the others seemed to be civilians if Ramirez could tell by their outfits. Unlike O’Neill and Makepeace Ramirez didn’t speak much space Egyptian and so he stayed silent, trusting the senior officers to ask questions while either the other O’Neill or Doctor Jackson translated.
It appeared they had some kind of armored pets, lizards similar to the ones that attacked the Rangers on Avalon and Ramirez suppressed a shudder. The last thing he wanted was for his men to be eaten alive by Komodo dragons the size of SUV’s. Teal’c remained impassive until an old man with a missing eye and healing burns on his right eye described two types of lizard like creatures, pale skinned and tall and one had a long reptilian like snout with fangs and the other has a more Lotar (Which he understood to mean humanoid) like face with a perpetual frown and cold beady eyes. Evidently these guys could produce heat from their hands, which could paralyze and kill the person targeted and killing them was dangerous as near boiling blood would shoot out and scald those who were attacked. Ramirez didn’t like this; they were going to run out of antibiotics faster than a pharmacy in a redlight district due to all the burns they would likely be treating after the first engagement if they weren’t careful.
“Everyone worries about bullet wounds in battle.” He muttered rubbing the bridge of his nose. Makepeace nodded in wordless agreement with the sentiment. Infections were always his primary concern and he’d seen enough bad burns in jungles kill soldiers to make him almost regret volunteering. “We need to keep our people segregated if we take any injuries, no matter how clean this place might look it’s still primitive and who knows what their sanitation standards are for surgical tools.”
O’Neill gave a slight nod, though it had been addressed at Makepeace and asked Teal’c if he recognized the race. Teal’c responded by asking if the creatures violated any of the females before departure. When the man responded that one of his granddaughters had been raped to death by two, Teal’c looked ready to throw his chair across the hall “
Hassak Scarren!”
Hassack, Hassak, Hursac as the Abydonians said it..Ramirez knew what that meant.
Hammond asked Teal’c if those were the people, he and his wife made war against for Apophis, and he nodded. “Indeed Admiral, they are a race of despoiled, inbred, serial raping savages partially descended from Unas. They conquered dozens of species for sport and believed in their own genetic superiority and that said superiority granted them the right to do with the universe as they pleased. And though our legal scribes could never prove it, our Ashrak swore the Scarran Empire funded the research into biological weaponry that made Linea famous early in her career. Raping females of other species was an atrocity they were legendary for. Their lust knew no bounds and their former colonies are filled with their illegitimate offspring.”
“What would they be doing here?” the Admiral asked.
Teal’c shrugged answering that he did not know. To Ramirez the reason didn’t matter, from what Teal’c described these bastards merited a “shoot first, ask for surrender later” approach. The other race, long tailed and far more cartoonishly lizard like Teal’c identified as Sleestak, a formerly advanced species that aided the Ori as servants whom the System Lords crushed early in their war and had hunted to near extinction in revenge for their refusal to join them in their ancient rebellion.
Later that night Teal’c explained that was left of their race, which had once been quadrillions strong had been reduced to two million primitives huddled in a world rad bombed to near uselessness. Over the next ninety thousand years, their species crawled from barely above animals to a barbaric and nomadic state. Sleestak were hateful, they resented the Asgardians who refused to help them in their hour of need, they utterly despised the Goa’uld for the loss of all they once possessed and the murder of their Gods (The Ori.) and roamed the Galaxies as gangsters, pirates, drug dealers, bounty hunters and thieves. He understood their anger at the snakes, they had stolen from earth, abducted his ancient cousins and flung them across the Galaxies too, but that didn’t give them the right to rampage around the universe brutalizing decent people because of the crimes of a few ancient reptiles who played at being Gods.
The one thing that all the witnesses had in common was that the attacks they survived were uncharacteristically brutal; they didn’t occupy mines or carry off children to Lucian slave markets as was common in other primitive parts of the cosmos. They didn’t steal wealth or food, they just arrived and slaughtered and slaughtered and kept slaughtering. The most distressing part of it was that it seemed like they didn’t have a leader, but they were all certain they had seen one, a great hulking alien in the shadows.
Once it all wound down, Hammond asked Teal’c if it was possible that a closet Gate Network could be why they seemed to have an endless supply of troops, but Teal’c shook his head. “It is only a technology utilized by the Imperium and their most trusted or lucrative trading partners. To my knowledge the Asgardians do not utilize such devices and I believe they would have had to transport a secondary Stargate to this planet in any case. Though it is possible they came by ship, though with the Hetch drive the Scarrans use it would have taken them several years to arrive here. Perhaps, they stole a vessel with a working hyperdrive.”
“But how does that explain their belief that more are arriving every day?” Doctor Carter asked, she’d been unusually silent during the whole debacle, her mind wandering slightly, and Ramirez understood why. She was an unusually attractive thing for a scientist, much less someone who had blown herself up several times before she was old enough to drive.
“They might just be demoralized.” Ramirez offered, though he immediately regretted it. Nothing in the Wyryn suggested that Hethrir himself was being beaten down by this, only that his subjects were completely terrified and seemingly preparing to die. Could a people like that devolve into hysteria so quickly? From what he understood, the raids against the Wyryn had only begun recently. Unless the rest of this dude’s enormous kingdom was almost constantly under siege and if that was the case then he was a bigger idiot then any monarch Ramirez had read about in school. -Letting your people fall victim to a horde of lizardmen and then lying about it for as long as you can get away with it? ‘Sta loco.-
Hammond nodded, he’d taken up one of the larger cots in the room and seemed as comfortable out here in this weird pastiche world as he would have back on Earth. A reminder that the Admiral spent the majority of his career sleeping in ditches and fighting the wilderness and all kinds of enemies America would never know it had. “Maybe, but all the same, I’d like to understand what we’re dealing with here. Teal’c says Scarrans are almost as strong as Jaffa and their bodies can resist energy weapons to a high degree naturally.”
“I do indeed Admiral, though I believe your rifles should penetrate their hides far easier than they do Jaffa armor. The danger will lie in when they close the gap between us.” Teal’c contended, gripping his staff weapon tightly, almost as if he was trying to channel the Spirit of Anubis. “Scarrans are the worst impulses of the Goa’uld with none of their high-minded values, or virtues. None of their inhibitions about being seen as body thieves that restrain them.”
“Or their moral compass I guess.” Jack said, surprising himself. If you had asked him in 2015 or hell even in the weeks after the fight at Chulak what he thought of the Goa’uld he’d have sneered and called them brain eating parasites, snakes that needed to be exterminated. Now he only really held that opinion about Amunet and Apophis, Horus might have used lethal force on his men but even O’Neill could tell he was shocked and upset by the fact that he’d stabbed Jackson and the disgust in his voice when describing what Amunet did and his sincerity at the promise to bury his friends with honor and leave Earth alone…In any case what he didn’t like about their weird ass gilded cage Empire paled in comparison to a race that was summed up as “Rape Iguanas in space.” And from what he saw here on Hurot, Teal’c’s wife did the Galaxies a favor when she blew up their empire.
“So, we have no idea how they’re doing what they’re doing to get here and there’s scant evidence of high-tech weaponry.” It was Makepeace who answered this time, an annoyed look on his usually calm features. “What we need to do is figure out where the hell they’re at.”
“I’ve got Watson on drone duty.” Ramirez offered. “he’ll know if we’re going to be attacked tonight Sir and if so, maybe we can have the drones follow them back to their lair.”
“Lair?” O’Neill asked.
Ramirez shrugged lazily. “They’re lizardmen, don’t lizardmen always have a lair?”
Hammond laughed from his cot. “I don’t know if comic books, and tabletop games are a good way to anticipate enemy action son.”
“Our entire lives are comic books at this point, sir” O’Neill chimed in, getting up and cracking his back. “Permission to turn in sir?”
“We could all use some shuteye.” Hammond said, putting a cap over his eyes. He’d ordered them to sleep in the hall, after something Jack had said before departure. Something about how this all seemed familiar to him to some degree. Hammond thought he was talking about Beowulf but Jack insisted it was something else, something he couldn’t place at that moment. Which wasn’t too surprising given the attention span O’Neill had when he wasn’t laser focused on a mission.